ImageWare Systems® announced an addition to its IWS™ Biometric Passport product family. It’s Biometric Identity Vetting for Passports is a commercial off-the-shelf product that provides passport issuance agencies the capability to conduct biometric passport applicant vetting, fraud screening and enhanced reporting while working within their current system. Some of the enhanced features include: facial recognition search capabilities for identification and verification, biometric cross-referencing of multiple image populations, image quality enhancement and the ability to expand based on specific government requirements.

SAN DIEGO, — ImageWare® Systems, Inc., a leading developer of identity management solutions, today announced the expansion of its IWS™ Biometric Passport product family to improve passport applicant identity verification and further reduce the potential of identity fraud.

“We are very excited about continuing to deliver innovative biometric identity management solutions in support of border security initiatives,” said Jim Miller, ImageWare’s chairman and CEO. “By leveraging our IWS™ Biometric Engine™ platform, we have been able to create unique offerings to the industry that are cost-effective and offer a wide variety of homeland security solutions to governments worldwide. The Biometric Passport products are utilized as the identity management layer to enhance passport integrity and aids in the detection of passport fraud.”

ImageWare’s Biometric Identity Vetting for Passports is a commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) product that provides passport issuance agencies the capabilities they need to employ a scalable solution that works with its existing infrastructure. ImageWare’s Biometric Identity Vetting for Passports includes several features that provide enhanced identification and verification capabilities required to support the passport application and issuance process. Enhanced features include:

– The ability to integrate into existing legacy systems and expand based upon specific governments requirements.

About IWS Biometric Passport Product Family

IWS Biometric Passport family is a suite of products that enable governments issuing biometric passports or utilizing biometrics during the enrollment, adjudication and issuance processes to vet and ensure unique identities. The product family is based on open architecture and supports multi-biometric identity management solutions, enabling vendor neutrality and delivering non-refutable proof of identity. Available as Web-based products, the IWS Biometric Passport family provides a wide range of functions that support the passport lifecycle, including multi-biometric and biographic enrollment (IWS™ Biometric Passport Enrollment), passport applicant identity vetting (IWS Biometric Identity Vetting for Passports), biometric identification and verification, and the support for biometric passport issuance and management (IWS™ Biometric Passport Issuance). Because the products are built on the company’s award-winning IWS Biometric Engine, governments support the entire biometric passport life-cycle – from background checks, to the management of embedded smart chips, through the automated identity verification and processing at border checkpoints. The IWS Biometric Passport product family also includes the company’s IWS Biometric Image Quality Assessment & Enhancement tool (IWS Biometric IQA&E) to assess the quality of a biometric image, and assure the image meet or exceeds the ISO standards for face, fingerprint and iris. This is a critical tool for any highly-secure identity management program.

ImageWare Systems, Inc. is a leading developer of identity management solutions, providing biometric, secure credential and law enforcement technologies. Scalable for worldwide deployment, the Company’s biometric product line includes a multi-biometric engine that is hardware and algorithm independent, enabling the enrollment and management of unlimited population sizes. ImageWare’s identification products are used to manage and issue secure credentials including national IDs, passports, driver licenses, smart cards and access control credentials. ImageWare’s digital booking products provide law enforcement with integrated mug shot, fingerprint Livescan and investigative capabilities. ImageWare is headquartered in San Diego, with offices in Washington DC and Canada. For more information visit http://www.iwsinc.com.